The Oklahoma Aviation Academy will be housed in a state-of-the-art facility when current freshman students enter their senior year.

Norman Public Schools on Wednesday broke ground on their academy campus at Max Westheimer Airport.

The $50 million project is funded by a $30 million bond approved by Norman voters last year, with the remainder from the state legislature.

NPS Superintendent Nick Migliorino spoke to the crowd of at least 200 about why the investment is so important for the future of aviation. He began his speech with a recollection of the first time he and Dirk O’Hara, vice president of the NPS Board of Education, spoke with Rick Nagel, managing partner with Acorn Growth Companies, a middle market private equity firm that specializes in aerospace and defense, about the vision for the academy.

“I think we surprised him when we said, ‘yeah, we’re going to do this, but you know what? We’re not only going to do this well, we’re going to do this better than anyone else in the nation,’” Migliorino said.

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